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Boulder Valley happy overall with school finance bill

Messinger: 'We want to make sure this is going to help us'

By Amy Bounds Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
02/20/2013 08:11:13 PM MST

Updated:
02/20/2013 08:12:31 PM MST

Boulder Valley Superintendent Bruce Messinger (Courtesy BVSD)

Boulder Valley School District officials generally are happy with the draft of a bill that would revamp the way Colorado funds schools for the first time in 18 years -- though they have a few concerns.

"It's a big deal," Boulder Valley Superintendent Bruce Messinger said Wednesday. "There are a lot of conversations working through this. This will probably be in place for at least a decade. We want to make sure this is going to help us get to where we need to be over time."

If passed by the Legislature, the complex, 144-page document would go into effect only if voters approve a statewide initiative to increase education funding -- probably by anywhere from $750,000 to $1.1 billion annually.

Much of the bill deals with a new formula to determine state and local shares of education funding. Colorado Department of Education officials are still calculating and verifying what the per-pupil amount would be for individual school districts.

The plan, proposed by Sen. Mike Johnston, D-Denver, would start by replacing a one-day, Oct. 1 student count with an average determined by data from four days throughout the year. Then districts would be allocated state dollars on what Johnston says is a more equitable system based on a three-step model used in Rhode Island.

First, the Legislature would set an average state-local ratio -- Johnston proposes a 64-36 split, Colorado's current ratio. Districts that lose funding under the new formula could increase local taxes to make up the difference or just absorb the loss.

Messinger said that, based on the draft bill, Boulder Valley would lose about $4 million. Whether districts would be required to ask voters to approve a property tax to cover that loss has yet to be decided.

Next, each district's property tax base per pupil would be adjusted to reflect the local median income and students on free and reduced lunch, a common measure of poverty. Now, the state spends about $300 million on at-risk and second language students; this bill would double that amount.

Proportionately, Boulder Valley would receive less funding than districts with higher concentrations of students on free and reduced lunch and who are learning English-as-a-second-language, Messinger said. About 20 percent of Boulder Valley's students qualify for free and reduced lunch.

Johnston's bill also includes provisions to fund special education by a still-undetermined amount and gifted and talented programs by an additional $5 million annually.

Messinger said the additional special education funding, especially, would help mitigate the lower proportion of money the district would receive because it has a smaller concentration of low-income students.

"That would be advantageous to Boulder Valley," he said. "It would create a more even distribution of resources. We understand the needs to alter the distribution some, but we also have to bring the floor up for everybody."

Recognizing the unfunded education reforms Colorado has instituted in recent years, the bill proposes a State Education Investment of $600 per student that districts could spend as they see fit. Additionally, an Innovation Fund, overseen by the Colorado Department of Education, would seek to expand learning time for underperforming districts.

There's also money for full-day kindergarten statewide and for more preschool spots for low-income children. Boulder Valley now can only afford to provide free full-day kindergarten in seven elementary schools.

If the bill passes, the Colorado Department of Education would begin calculating attendance data and new mill levies in 2014-15, and the revamped School Finance Act would go into full effect in the 2015-16 school year.

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